Last Twilight
by wolfdiamond
Summary: If Edward never came back. Bella spends her life in solitude, unable to forget the hurt from losing the love of her life. Oneshot.


A/N: This story just popped into my head. My other Twilight story was happy-ish. This one is not at all.

She applies to a few local colleges her senior year. The applications she sends to out of state colleges are to subdue Charlie. She finishes high school with straight A's and no blemishes on her record. College administrators find it strange she has no extracurricular activities.

She attends Forks Community College in the fall. Mike follows her there and tries to help her make friends, but she doesn't care and she won't try. He eventually gives up and moves on.

Her twentieth birthday passes, with minor celebration. She thinks to herself, _You've gotten old._

Her junior year at college Charlie insists she gets help to treat her depression. She complies, but it doesn't help and soon she stops going because it costs too much for Charlie to handle.

She graduates from Forks Community College with perfect grades, and gets a job as an administrator at the high school. She pushes away the thoughts that tell her she's masochistic for working where everything reminds her of him.

She moves out of Charlie's house and lives down the street from him. His health is getting bad and she cannot forget the promise she made. Billy visits Charlie often now, and it scares her because she knows what it means.

Her truck finally breaks down. She buys another car, used, and hates it.

Phil retires but Renee continues her teaching job. They live comfortably together, rarely visiting Forks.

Her job is a reminder that time passes too quickly for humans. She watches children grow, watches them graduate and become adults and it makes her ache for what she could have had.

Another ten years pass, and lines begin to form on her face, too early. Children from the high school begin to politely address her as "Mrs. Swan," and she doesn't bother to correct them.

Charlie's health gets worse and soon he has a heart attack that he barely survives. The doctors tell him he should get fit, and he tries, she makes him try, but it doesn't work. Renee and Phil come for the funeral, and she sells her house to move back into Charlie's. Her bedroom is exactly as she remembered it. She rediscovers the stereo she clawed from her truck.

Renee passes away quietly, and Phil attempts to comfort her when it's him who needs it more. They loose touch over the years. She has no family.

The house begins to look shabby; the paint peels, the roof begins to leak, and the porch sags. She doesn't have the money to repair it, and it doesn't really matter anyway.

Her hair begins to gray and she doesn't dye it; soon the darkness of it fades.

She retires a frail, bony, old woman, and lives cheaply, rarely ever leaving the sanctuary of Charlie's house.

She develops Alzheimer's, and is moved to a bad nursing home. She hasn't been there a week before an anonymous donation moves her to a large, expensive nursing home in Seattle. She's coherent enough to recognize what has happened, and she accepts it as a gesture of a wealthy friend and nothing more.

She lives at the nursing home for twenty more years. On one of the last days, she receives a letter with a handwriting she recognizes instantly. It's been hard not to think of him, but this letter immediately reminds her that he's still young and beautiful, and she is neither. The contents of the letter shock her.

She's even more devastated that she's ever been. She has spent her entire life lonely and friendless, unhappy and without pleasure. All along he's loved her.

For a few weeks she mourns having lived her life without him, while he's loved her all along. The nurses notice the change, and give her stronger antidepressants. She dies shortly after she gets his letter.

The funeral is small and private. She is buried in the Forks cemetery. It is autumn, and the wind sweeps leaves around the gravestone that only proclaims her name and the years she lived. A few nurses come, and some people from the high school. After the guests leave and the minister is done speaking, a beautiful boy sits next to headstone until all the light in the sky is gone, spending his last twilight with her.

A/N: Well… there it is. I hope no one hates me for writing this. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. Let's just pretend Bella never visited Jacob and the werewolves got Victoria before she got near Bella. Plus, Edward didn't ever come back until Bella died.


End file.
